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In recent years, among the superhero films, there was an easy way to sum it up: Marvel movies are (by and large) funny, and DC movies are super-dark and grim. In the latter case, some authors (whether you like them or not) have created the template for the entire DC Extended Universe, even if one of them does not. has never made a film in this technically defined franchise: Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder. The darkness of these films became a burden, and DC became aware of them. Their last two movies, December Aquaman and now Shazam!, both are clearly trying to escape Grimdark's skid, offering more optimistic, colorful characters and worlds, and trying to be entertaining in the traditional sense of the word.
This post contains spoilers for Shazam!
To look into the pleasure of superheroism
Shazam!, in particular, is doing very well at … you know, fun. Part of the reason the film directed by David F. Sandberg is due to the fact that, either because DC honors have judged him so, or because the script of Henry Gayden chose it, there is very little recognition of the larger universe extended apart from the very idea that superheroes exist. The film, which focuses on the perpetual adoptive child Billy Batson (Asher Angel), distils above all superhero consciousness in Billy's new adopted brother, Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer), who sports shirts sporting the Aquaman logo. and a bullet fired at Superman.
Once Billy became the alleged champion of a mystical wizard named Shazam (Djimon Hounsou), he is endowed with powers of flight, speed, strength and more, which he can exploit by saying "Shazam And becoming his ideal. adult self, portrayed by Zachary Levi. Finally, Billy / Shazam must face his first supervillain, Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), a dark adult who had the opportunity to be the champion of Shazam before being rejected.
Sivana's backdrop, much like Billy's, is sad to evoke empathy, but once the adult character has demonstrated his powers and cruelty, it's more fun to see Billy / Shazam diminish his it is frightening that it is for the villain to be a bad guy. . It can be said that the film's funniest scene is coming late, as Billy / Shazam and Sivana face each other, hovering over Philadelphia about 100 yards away. Sivana begins to present a scary monologue, but when Sandberg moves on to Billy / Shazam, it's clear that he can not hear monologue, and does not really care what Sivana says. The most of Shazam! do not interfere in the parody, but it is the moment that hides an essential trope in the sub-genre.
The concept of a fun superhero movie is rather absent from a number of recent comics, not just from DC. (That being said, let's be fair: the Marvel movie that ended with the death of literally half of humanity managed not to get confused, while DCEU's first films are hopelessly gloomy in the hope of appearing serious and huge.) The need to treat comic strip movies in a more serious way has become a number of Movies Marvel, including Captain Marvel and Avengers: war in the infinite (It's less dark than DC movies, but … it ends half of humanity that dies), looking for importance and missing the goal.
The complex of self-gravity
However, for DC, it's a crutch thanks to the massive success of Christopher Nolan. Batman trilogy. From this series, the film most often cited as the high watermark is its sequel in 2008 The black Knight. It's easy to see this as a movie that leans too much into the darkness of its title, with Bruce Wayne / Batman pushed to the limit by the cruel and sociopathic Joker. Even in the world of a film by Christopher Nolan, there is one element of the game, at least as revealed by the late Heath Ledger. His Joker is a character whose offbeat qualities are absent from other Nolan Batman films. (Bane, a nasty key in The black knight gets up, is funny, but not intentionally so.). While Ledger's Joker wins an Oscar, he has become an iconic landmark for many online fans, but the seriousness of his work is what has really been passed on to DC Extended Universe.
Nolan's presence was found only moderately at the beginning of the CESD in 2013 with Steel man. Although he did not make the film, he was credited as a producer and seems to have played a pivotal role in Warner Bros.'s work. with Snyder (who already had a solid relationship with WB thanks to 300 and guardians). But Steel man is much more of a Zack Snyder film than Christopher Nolan's; none of them would have been right to direct a Superman movie, in part because Superman is a radically different character from Batman. This last character has darkness in him, while Superman is supposed to be a character full of unbridled excitement and joy of having powers. It is a sense of hope that is largely absent from the first CSEF movies.
Steel man was marked by criticism of how he peaked in Superman and broke General Zod's neck right after the killing of many innocent civilians in the shared fire of their fight. Batman v Superman: The Dawn of Justice has been marked by criticisms of his subsidence in a severity, at a parody level. (And very recently, Snyder publicly speaking Batman and Superman, darker, suggesting that he feels no regret for his versions of the characters.) Anyway, it's true of Justice League, credited to Snyder as a director but guided to the end as much as by Avengers Helmer Joss Whedon, he immediately tries to be light and fun. Justice League This goal is usually lacking, in part because half of the film is as visually and emotionally disturbing as its predecessors, but there was already a sense that DC was aware of its problems.
Of course, at the moment Justice League DC had already made fun of his own penchant for darkness with the very funny The LEGO Batman movie. It's a solid mix of affectionate homage and sneaky parody, which opens up on a black screen while Batman's graffiti-voiced minifig version (voiced by Will Arnett) says "all important movies start with a black screen. This sense of importance is what the movie skewers, and what Shazam! likewise avoids. It may be because The black Knight was not nominated for an Oscar for best film, a decision that led the Academy to bring the number of nominees for the best film to ten, but the mixture of importance and hurt pride contributes to the bulk of the problems of the CUSD.
A breath of fresh air
And maybe that's why films like Shazam! and Wonder Woman feel like such fresh air puffs. None of these films avoid elements of darkness or maturity – Wonder Woman presents his main character in the middle of the First World War, and Shazam! has several characters with stories designed to engender instant sympathy because of family separation – but they do not wallow in these elements. Shazam! it begins rather grim with a prologue set in 1974 as we meet the young Thaddeus Sivana on a journey through the snowy roads of the night with his intimidating brother and his equally evil father (John Glover). Thaddeus with glasses is transported inexplicably into Shazam's lair, and after being tempted by the personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins, the old wizard sends him back to the real world.
When we meet Billy Batson, a similar sadness permeates his scenario. As a teenager, he came in and out of a foster home for a decade; in a flashback, we learn that he was separated from his young mother during a carnival and that she never could reconnect with him. Finally, it becomes clear that her mother's absence was less of an accident than an active decision on the part of the young woman. When Billy is finally able to locate his biological mother, with the help of his new adoptive siblings, he discovers the truth: even though they accidentally separated, she saw her young son with the cops and chose to leave him behind because of her. youth and immaturity, assuming that someone else could be a better mother to him. It's a heartbreaking moment, and it works because of the amount of Shazam!at least the parts that surround Billy's story, is so fun.
Part of this might be the decision to make this story a story about two teenagers. Billy, when he is an adult, acknowledges that he does not know much about superheroes, but his adoptive brother, Freddy, is an addict. In part, this addiction is due to Freddy's physical handicaps and the extent to which he aspires to have the type of body capable of withstanding all the pains. Billy and Freddy, once the first one has demonstrated his super powers, test the limits of Shazam with the kind of dizzying joy reserved for children who laugh and play while their parents are not watching. This is the kind of fun that children experience when they pretend to be superheroes, but are filmed with honest superpowers. This, combined with the pathos shown by Billy who learns that his mother chose to leave him behind, creates characters that interest the audience, a precious necessity in what could otherwise be the umpteenth superhero movie of the decade.
This is what makes Shazam! special, and that's what makes some of the best so special superhero movies. (Certainly, The black Knight is one of those big movies, even if they are not very funny in the traditional sense of the term.) The story of this new film is less original than ever, it is rather the kind of story that the studios evaded late. Superhero movies are impossible to avoid at the multiplex, but the superhero movies whose characters as to be superheroic are fewer and more distant. There is no doubt that the public associates with one or the other type of film – a high budget, even Justice League has brought in more than $ 650 million worldwide, and Marvel has not really revealed his box office flops. But those who stand out more than a weekend or two feel special. Or, if you want, great.
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